Illustrations above by Tsubaci Anna--see more of her way-cool work at http://www.annarocks.jp.
Last day of Amalgam's 5th Birthday Party!Wow, five whole years! As usual, we have some fun plans for the site's anniversary =). First up:
The Jin and Mugen fanlisting is now officially open, and everyone's welcome to join!
Where the River Meets the Sea
Next up! A gallery of fan art that's been featured on this site over the past years--many thanks to our guest artists!
Samurai Champloo fan art.
And finally! A complete overhaul of the always-popular doujinshi section with many more translations--finally!--thanks to generous friends.
Have a look around!
Yokoso! (Welcome!) This is my tribute to my favorite anime series, Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo. From the director and screenwriter of the much-revered anime gem, Cowboy Bebop --a thing of beauty which consistently makes fan lists of the five best series ever--has come a handsome, innovative, and thoroughly kickass neoclassic. Together with excellent writers Shinji Obara and Dai Sato, who also worked on Bebop, and character designer Kazuto Nakazawa, Watanabe has created another major obsession in my life. I love this thing to bits, and I want everyone else who appreciates beauty, imagination, energy and fine art in anime--or, hell, anywhere-- to love it too.
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Please hang out and read what I have here: there's my Champloo discussion forum, Swords and Sunflowers; very detailed episode summaries [WARNING, SPOILERS GALORE!] , some random thoughts on the three main characters, a detailed guide to the anachronisms that make the series such a trip, a guide to all and I mean all the characters in the series to date, and lots of pictures. LOTS of pictures. =)
Check out FUNimation's Champloo page: watch episodes for free (in dub OR sub)!, see their kickass new trailer ("...the age of the samurai. A time for honor...
a time for courage...a time for hip-hop.") and get info on their new box set, released on June 30th. ($69.98--or a mere $39.98 from
RightStuf.)
More on FUNi's sweet Champloo deal below.
Late July 2009 Toy & Figure Update:
...second monthly reschedule by Hobby Figures Global. Jin's release date has been moved back to August 29th 2009,
which I'll bet means that Mugen will soon be rescheduled from 8/30 to 9/30.
Or, they might astonish us by bringing both out in the same month. More updates to follow, I'm sure.
A further delay, apparently: Triad Toys' website states that their 12" Jin and Mugen
action figures, originally scheduled for Dec. 2008 release,
pushed back to March, then to April and then to June 2009,
now have no advance
release date more specific than "second quarter 2009".
(*sigh* Didn't anyone but me preorder these things?...not that it helps any, since Triad lost my preorder...)
The gorgeous cold-cast-porcelain figures from Hobby Figures Global--cross your fingers!
Read more about HFG and see lots more photos of these beauties at their website.
FUNimation picks up Champloo's USA licensing!
12/31/08: Anime News Network reports: "The North American distributor FUNimation Entertainment announced on Wednesday [Dec. 30th] that it will distribute Shinichiro Watanabe and Manglobe's Samurai Champloo television anime series for Geneon Entertainment. Watanabe directed Cowboy Bebop and two segments of The Animatrix before taking on this historical action series with tongue-in-cheek anachronisms. FUNimation will release the entire 26-episode anime series in a box set in 2009. [See update above.][...]Geneon Entertainment had released this anime series in North America in 2005 and 2006, but [Geneon] ceased in-house distribution of its own titles in September 2007. FUNimation announced at Anime Expo 2008 this past July that it agreed to manufacture, sell, and distribute selected DVD titles from Geneon Entertainment in North America. However, FUNimation had not announced that it will distribute Samurai Champloo until now."
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[Left, detail from Full Moon at Magome #169 (1930);
right, detail from Winter Moon, Toyama Plain (1931),
by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)]
and we have her gracious permission to showcase it here at Amalgam!
Day begins with the morning bell.
Night is long, empty moon still in the sky.
Everything must end.--Fujiwara no Ietaka
Judy Renee Pope
September 8th 1960-September 6th 2007
My anime series reviews by season, 2006-present.
Call me obsessive? Sigh over Jin? Send me on a one-way trip to Edo? (I'm still waiting for that one!=)
The name is, as ever, Paula J. O'Keefe: angelynx@spookhouse.net
Thanks to everyone who continues to read the site and write to me-- I truly appreciate it!
Amalgam main page was created July 23rd-30th, 2004.
Amalgam page logo created by Judy Renee Pope (thanks, princess).
=+=====100,000th page hit--September 2005=====+=
[left: Kuzunoha bidding farewell to her children: see episodes 20-21.
HP
=+=====Welcome to our 5th birthday party!=====+=
=+=====150,000th page hit--March 2006=====+=
=+=====200,000th page hit--August 2006=====+=
=+=====250,000th page hit--August 2007=====+=
=+=====275,000th page hit--June 2008=====+=
=+=====290,000th page hit--July 2009=====+=
right: Yoshitsune's ship attacked by Heike/Taira warrior ghosts in the form of crabs: see episode 22.]
Illustration by Norio Shioyama.
[Notice: Samurai Champloo and its characters are (c) 2004-to-infinity Manglobe/Simoigusa Champloos.
I do not own them and I have nothing here for sale; this is just an expression of my admiration and love. Please
don't hit me.]